You know it’s summer in Fayetteville when the annual Midsummer Magic event comes back to downtown.

The two-day event promises a wealth of unique sights and sounds, which is what Betsy McElwee, event coordinator for the Downtown Alliance, is looking forward to the most.

“One of the main objectives for this event is to get people kind of circulating downtown and learning about new businesses that maybe they didn’t know about,” McElwee said.

As one of the signature events for the Downtown Alliance, Midsummer Magic is a unique opportunity to bring the people of Fayetteville together for a tour of the businesses downtown has to offer.

The event takes place at several businesses downtown on July 21 and 22. You just need to pick up a Fairy Journal, which can be found online or at several downtown businesses, and follow the Fairy Door Scavenger Hunt and Quest instructions.

This journal will also show you where there are special promotions and activities at different businesses. The scavenger hunt will take place between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. on
both days.

“There are also going to be traveling gnomes throughout the day who will help people answer different questions that are on the quest. So there will be different random kinds of trivia questions. And a gnome may answer that question for you, or they may tell you where you need to go to find the answer. So there is a book of knowledge that will be downtown, where you’ll have to locate the book of knowledge to answer the question,” McElwee said.

If you complete the Fairy Journal, you can turn it in by July 22 and be eligible for a prize.

The LlamaCorns will be returning and performers will be scattered throughout the event to delight those on their quest.

Everyone is also encouraged to dress in their most fantastic fairy, sprite, goblin, dwarf or wizard ensemble for a chance to win this year’s costume contest. Participants only need to tag their picture on their personal social media page with #MidsummerMagicFayNC to enter for a chance to win prizes.

The costume contest is separated into different categories for Downtown Businesses, kids ages 0 through 4, kids ages 5 through 10, kids ages 12 through 17, adults, groups and pets.

For adults looking for a different way to explore businesses, the Midsummer Crawl will be coming back on Friday, July 21, from 5 to 9 p.m. The crawl happened once before the pandemic, but McElwee said they are excited to see it return.

“We’ll be publishing a list of drink specials and activities that’ll be going on during the crawl. And we'll have about 15 or more bars and restaurants, food-based businesses, there’s a few cafes. It won’t only be alcohol. There’ll be some businesses that will have a dessert on the menu. Because not every business that’s doing the crawl has alcohol, but a big portion of them do,” McElwee said.

Midsummer Magic is free and open to the public, but some activities will have an associated cost.

For more information regarding Midsummer Magic and to download a Fairy Journal, visit https://www.faydta.com/our-events/downtown-fayetteville-scavenger-hunt/